Who I'm Rooting For

As a diehard Orioles fan, I get a little bit sad come playoff time every season that the O's don't make it. But let's face it, I'm used to them missing the playoffs by now; Baltimore baseball has been ending at the beginning of October for what feels like forever. The Rays have been a nice fallback option for me in recent years, and I know that it's strange to like two teams in the same division, but the Rays, and specifically a Scott Kazmir jersey t-shirt, brought me and my now fiance together, so the team holds a special place in our relationship.  Now that the Rays have been eliminated from playoff contention, it wasn't too hard for me to pick out the remaining teams that I am rooting for. I hate hate hate the Yankees and I'm tired of the Phillies being the best team in National League. So I'm pulling for a Rangers-Giants World Series. I know it's unlikely, but I can hope right?

To show my support, here are a couple cards representing both teams.

 

Although not a Rangers card and having shown this card previously, Ron Washington, the Rangers' manager, is a perfect representation for his team. Ron took over the helm for the Rangers in November 2006 and the team has improved in each of his four seasons. His tenure is obviously highlighted by this year's playoff appearance and the first Rangers' playoff series win in team history, dating back almost 50 years to when the organization was still the Washington Senators. 

Ron is a great TTM signer, and this is his only Orioles card, so I was thrilled to get it back in only 22 days last August. I'm not really sure what's going on with his signature is though; as best as I can tell its an R W--g t--.

Jim Brower is my Giants representative because this is the only Giants card I have scanned right now. He spent two and a half seasons of his 9 year MLB career with the Giants from 2003-05.  2004 was his best year in the Majors when he led the league with 89 relief appearances while maintaining a 3.29 ERA and finishing with a 7-7 record. He briefly (and disastrously) pitched for the Orioles in early 2006, appearing in 12 games and allowing opponents to put up crooked numbers in 8 of those games, which worked out to a 13.86 ERA. Ugly. 

Jim pitched for 8 teams over his 9 MLB seasons, with his last big league appearance coming with the Yankees in 2007. He is apparently still pitching and spent the 2010 season with Italian Serie A1 team, Rimini, with whom he threw an Opening Day no-hitter against Grosseto. I honestly had no idea that Italy had a baseball league, I thought it was all about soccer futbol over there, but I'm glad that Jim has found some success. He has a fairly legible autograph, and you can almost make out every letter in his name. 

GO RANGERS & GIANTS!